Impromptu Review: Paul Reed Smith SE Tonare T60e
 

Impromptu Review: Paul Reed Smith SE Tonare T60e

Plenty of pleasant surprises lay in wait for me in this guitar, one I stumbled upon while in my local guitar shop. I wasn’t looking for a guitar at all but was there to collect payment on an old Martin I had consigned there. While he was cutting my check, I was drawn to the new top of the line Tonare T60e like the proverbial moth. The last thing I needed was a new stage guitar — just ask my lovely wife!

There’s something about the wide-fat neck carve that makes the strings seem wider spaced than they actually are. I’m very sensitive to nut width and always buy 1-¾ but this measures at 43mm yet feels more like 44 to me. This was a total surprise, as when I first picked the Tonare up and tried it, I just assumed it was the wider nut and didn’t even look up the measurement until I’d pretty much fallen for the instrument.

Another surprise was the guitar’s long and satisfying sustain, making it a capable fingerstyle player. And the fretwork is world class, with a very low action with no rattle or buzz unless you strum like Pete Townshend.

The curly maple neck and body binding is tasteful and uniformly executed, as is the abalone binding around the top, soundhole, and even a lovely backstrip. And then there are the controversial bird inlays. No one was more skeptical about the birds than I was, at least initially, on my PRS solidbodies. But once I read Mr Smith’s backstory on his birds and his crescent moon motif, they grew on me and now I really like them. If I had a choice, I would have chosen the slightly more subtle hollow birds, but these pretty abalone birds are fine with me.

Unless someone told me I was playing an instrument with laminated Ziricote back and sides, I would have just assumed it was all solid East Indian Rosewood. The back is a well bookmatched four piece and the sides are bookmatched one piece. Neck is three piece mahogany with barely visible seams under the finish. The solid Sitka Spruce top is uniformly grained with hints of bearclaw and a pleasantly red-golden finish that I first mistook for cedar.

I strummed a few open chords with bare fingers. This Tonare is loud and projects very well, with an extremely sweet and balanced tone that made me (and seemingly everyone else in the store) smile. Played with a pick, it was as commanding as a Martin M-36, which it somewhat resembles in bout dimensions.

Electronics are quite spare and sound great through anything I’ve plugged into including my band’s QSC PA speaker array. Just a simple Fishman G1 piezo and two recessed controls in the soundhole, with an unobtrusive battery compartment and output jack on the lower bout. No blinking tuners, notch filters, or any other gimmicks to clutter things up — just the way I like ‘em.

The uniformly black ebony fretboard and bridge were a nice surprise, something infrequently seen these days on sub-$1K instruments like this one. The T60e’s regular price is $1049 including a serviceable, well-fitted hard case, but I paid an extremely reasonable $800 out the door. The last guitar I bought with this much excellence for that kind of short money was my beloved Oregon-built Breedlove C-25 Pro ten years ago, and that was on closeout sale and included an employee discount (I was a training manager at GC at the time) so it was around $750. Fit and finish are as good or superior to anything else on the market in the $1K-2K range, such as Japan-built Takamine, midrange USA-made Taylors, and Martin’s excellent US-crafted Performing Artist series, while the setup, action, and fretwork are far superior to everything I’ve seen from any brand in the sub $2K range. Low and easy, the way it should be.

A PRS guitar is like a Studebaker Avanti: you either love ‘em or hate ‘em, with little room in between for indecision. Like classic asymmetrical headstock Breedloves, I find them bold and distinctive, with modern aesthetics worthy of a new millennium, and I applaud Mr. Smith for going with his gut and taking a chance on something unique and sticking with it. The latest PRS SE acoustic models are lovely guitars anyone would be proud to call their main stage guitar, even a snooty old Martin and Collings snob like me. ~DM

Might be the first time I have ever had GAS for a laminated guitar!

I rarely buy 1K under acoustics either but last December I was one of the first to get a PRS SE Angelus A55E (BH Abaco Green cutaway). I agree with you on the wide fat neck (.860" at the first fret) with full shoulders really helping the narrow nut width work. The tone on mine is very good. I love the fretboard radius! I finally found a sub 12" radius cutaway that is round and fast like an electric. I sold a skinny neck, 16" flat radius, 2016 000-18 after I got this. Any guitar that can play accurately with a more R&B finger angle really helps certain songs. Can be freeing in a way. Thanks PRS for the design. Enjoy your Zircote!

My photos are here:

PRS SE Tonare

Ill agree with you on the tone. I played one of these and was blown away at the sound. I had to look up the specs to verify if it had solid or laminate back and sides. Played phenomenal like you said as well.

Nice review and a stunning looking guitar too.

Quick two-week update on my PRS Tonare T60e review:

After playing everyday, the guitar has gotten noticeably louder and the tone seems both fatter and brighter as the spruce opens up. I compared it with my Breedlove C25, a ten year old concert size all-solid cedar/rosewood, and the Tonare is now the louder of the two. I have grown to prefer the PRS’s 12” radius over the very flat 16” inch on my Breedlove. My barre chording is easier and cleaner as a result.

Treble string single notes up the fretboard are particularly round and satisfying, while the already excellent sustain keeps the tone ringing out. Balance remains excellent, with a classical guitar-like volume evenness across the fretboard. Strummed or fingerstyle, hard or soft, the Tonare sounds as great as it plays, which as I wrote in my review, is the absolute best acoustic fretwork and factory setup in my experience with hundreds of fine acoustics over nearly 45 years of playing.

This is just a superb guitar that continues to put a smile on my face every time I pick it up. It has the most desirable features from the best electro-acoustic guitars I’ve known and loved, and my band gave it six thumbs up after rehearsal last week. I say you simply can’t do better for ~$1000 from any other brand. Now I’m thinking about adding a sweet cutaway Angelus A60e to keep my Tonare company. ~DM

That is some strong praise! You are the second person I have heard that is extremely impressed with this guitar. I really wish someone near me had it in stock to try out!

These SE guitars from PRS are quite good. I picked up the Angelus A50E with flames maple back and sides and modest burst on the back last year. At the $750 brand new price I paid with very nice HSC, I think these are great value. And the pickup system is quite good as well.

Hard to go wrong with these at the price point. Now I find myself wanting the A60E with the ziricote B&S.

[IMG]https://live.staticflickr.com/7825/4...ed986da1_c.jpg20190414_105816 by [email protected], on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]https://live.staticflickr.com/7882/4...6b6a3ec9_c.jpg20190414_105832 by [email protected], on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]https://live.staticflickr.com/7866/4...6bef365b_c.jpg20190414_105859 by [email protected], on Flickr[/IMG]

The OP definitely piqued my interest, and on viewing a few online (yeah, I know!), demos they do appear to sound pretty good. The looks may polarise opinion, but I think the T50E is delicious with the maple.
One of my local shops has one or two in stock, so tomorrow I'll be checking them out.

I have now had my PRS T60E for a little over a month now. I agree with the OP that this is an excellent guitar at this price point. The fit and finish is excellent and I love the tone I am getting from the Zircote back and sides combined with the spruce top and the fan bracing in the wide lower bout. I didnt think that you could hear a difference between laminated back and side woods, but after trying these with maple and mahogony and Ovangkol, there really is a noticeable difference.
Normally I am a 1-3/4 neck guy, but this neck is very comfortable i like the string spacing as well.
The one thing i didn't care for was the piezo pickup and immediately had it removed and replaced with a K&K pure mini. Much better . I also changed to Santa Cruz low tension strings. This combination of low tension strings and the removal of the under saddle piezo , required a tweek of the truss rod. The nut height is perfectly cut and the action is perfect for me at least. I chose this over an Eastman E20OM after playing them side by side. Although it was a tough choice the PRS had the clarity i was looking for as well as volume and a good low end.
Now not everyone is a fan of the bling on this guitar, but I find it tastefully done with real abalone inlays and beautiful curly maple binding. The fret work is excellent and I like that it has a real bone nutt and saddle. I may try replacing the pins with ebony to see if I can hear any difference.
So, if you are considering a new guitar in the 1k price range, give one of these a try.

Glad you reported all the details of these new SE models. They really have upped their tone and feel from years back. Like you said the Wide Fat neck is so much better for slightly over 1 11/16" nut width. The string spacing is great and is actually about what my 1.75" necks are.

These necks facilitate fast playing. The ergonomics of fingers hitting wood is so much better with a rounder radius 11.81". I would love to see Martin copy this neck so I can get some 120 BPM tuneage on them. But the skinny MLO neck and the 16" radius (I call it the fretboard finger stub) is too much a middle ground to classical fingerstyle flat radius, than fast comping. As you indicated Barre chords are a breeze compared to Martin. Especially for long sets. Also the bridge span is nice just over 2 3/16" which the new Martins that are under 2 3/16".

Fingers on an angle and Barre chord rhythms!